Manitoba grain growers represented by five separate commodity organizations have voted to greenlight a merger they now expect to make official by August.
A total of 165 ballots were cast Wednesday and Thursday during the groups’ annual general and special meetings at the CropConnect conference in Winnipeg, with members at the various events voting between 80 and 95 per cent in favour of a special resolution to amalgamate.
Each of the five groups — the National Sunflower Association of Canada, Manitoba Corn Growers Association, Manitoba Flax Growers Association and Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association and Winter Cereals Manitoba — needed at least a two-thirds majority for the resolutions to pass.
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Feed Grains Weekly: Price likely to keep stepping back
As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
The board of directors for the merged entity, dubbed the Manitoba Crop Alliance, plans to take a petition Friday to the Manitoba Farm Products Marketing Council (MFPMC).
The petition will seek a designation regulation under the Agricultural Producers’ Organization Funding Act, allowing the MCA to collect levies on the seven affected crop types, at the levies’ current levels.
If the regulation clears, the MCA expects to become operational Aug. 1. More details and reaction are now available at Manitobacooperator.ca. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
